The Marauders
by ProngsMoony
Summary: About the Marauders and some 6th years Gryffindor girls. About love, friendship, mischief, anger, hate, relationships, change of feelings and dark times, very dark times. This is their story. RR M'nM
1. New Year at Hogwarts School begins

First Chapter New year at Hogwarts school begins.  
  
It was a sunny morning, on September first. Platform 9 ¾ was full of noises, laughs and screams from the students who were going to Hogwarts for their next school term. You could see all the students meeting their friends after two months of vacation, telling them about their summer, sharing news and gossips.  
  
At one side of the platform were four boys laughing madly at something, watching some Slytherins walking by. One of them, the tallest, was very good-looking. He had black hair that fell to his face making him look, if possible, more handsome, with dark-grey eyes that made the girls in Hogwarts melt. His name was Sirius Black. Behind him stood another boy, also with very untidy black hair, but with glasses and big, bright hazel eyes, full of mischief and amusement, grinning at something. He was James Potter. Known by the girls as the great and cute Quidditch player, and by the boys as the cool, best-in-transfiguration guy. If there was anyone who could play a prank, it was him. On one side of Sirius was Remus Lupin, top- class student and prefect. He had light brown hair, with warm piercing grey eyes. He had the admiration of each and every teacher at Hogwarts., and if every girl had to wish for someone to pair up with to do some work, was with him, and not just because of his knowledge. (A/n if you know what we are talking about...). And behind all three of them, almost unnoticeable, was a piggy-faced, mousy-haired boy, with a baby face. He was shorter than the other three, and looked as though he was hiding himself behind them, he was biting his nails. (A/n Take a good look, guys, cuz it'll be one of the few times you hear... read about him! Bloody Rat!!!)  
  
The four boys, known as The Marauders, were very popular at Hogwarts. Everybody knew them. They walked towards the Hogwarts Express, still laughing.  
  
When they were near the door, Sirius took something from his pocket and slipped it in the trunk of a boy who was standing there talking other two. They got into the train, sending malicious looks. A couple of minutes later, a big explosion echoed all over the train, and the Marauders started to laugh even harder. Just then, a thick book soared past them, followed by some parchments, cloaks and some underwear. The people who were chatting in the corridor or looking for a compartment had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by any of those things. Just a second after that, a blond- haired boy came running. When Sirius saw him rushing after his stuff he yelled at him:  
  
"Hurry up, Malfoy dear, your knowledge is running away"  
  
"You'll pay for this one, Black!" said Malfoy, startling some first years as he passed by.  
  
They started to look for and empty compartment, still laughing like crazy at Malfoy.  
  
"That was a nice one, Padfoot" said James grinning widely. "So, spending the summer thinking about new jokes, are we?"  
  
"'Course "said Sirius, opening every door, hoping to find an empty one soon.  
  
"Careful, there. You don't wanna waste your time like that. You know you can't beat me on that one. I'm the king of the pranks, and you know it." Said James, full of pride.  
  
"Here's and empty one" said Peter quietly, opening a door.  
  
"Great" said James.  
  
"Well, I have to go" said Remus, adjusting the badge that was pinned on his  
  
chest.  
  
"It's happening again" said Sirius, dull. "you'll leave us, so you can go with those bookworms, aren't you?"  
  
"C'mon, Sirius, you know I have to—"  
  
"And you enjoy it" said James. "Look I have to, OK? See you later." Said Remus and kept walking down the corridor.  
  
They saw him walk away and then they got into the compartment, closing the door behind them.  
  
Peter sat next to the window, and looked at the landscape that showed many houses passing by quickly. James sat down and started to read the Daily Prophet. Sirius lied down and closed his eyes. When he opened them, a picture in the front page of the newspaper caught his eye. It showed a pretty girl, with curly, light brown hair and big, shiny, grey eyes, with a wide smile and with a bathing suit on a very beautiful beach. Over the picture, on black letters was written "Minister of Magic and family spending their vacations in Hawaii, read the scoop". Suddenly James closed the magazine, put it over his trunk and stretched. "Can I grab this, Prongs?" asked Sirius, still glaring at the picture.  
  
"Yeah, sure" said James without looking.  
  
Sirius grabbed the paper, opened it and read the article. After a minute or so, he scowled and closed it. He put a face that showed dislike. "What is it? Got a bugger-flavoured Bertie Bott?" said James smiling, looking at his watch.  
  
"No" said Sirius ", it's this article, have you read it? It's about the Minister and his family on vacation, featuring Lorreine Scarse. Honestly, I can't believe she was sorted into Gryffindor" he grimaced "She's not even brave! Besides, how come she is in the front page?"  
  
"Well, she comes from one of the most respectable and distinguished families of the magical world, not to mention she is the daughter of the Minister himself. I bet her family hates those who are muggleborn and she has to face her parents because she sticks with Lily, they are best friends" James thought about this and then said "you know, now that I think about it, it sounds just like you, Padfoot. You'd make a nice couple." He grinned mischievously at Sirius, who had just grabbed a chocolate frog from his trunk, and choked. "Ha! Yeah, sure, not even in your dreams!" He put a weird face and said in a girlish kind of way "Oh!! Oh, my God, I broke a nail. I'm getting dirty! I look fat" then he laughed.  
  
Then a sweet and amused voice, but with a note of hate, said "Not even in my nightmares and in your sweetest dreams, Black". At the compartment door stood a light-brown-haired girl looking at Sirius with a fake smile. Sirius gaped at her, unable to pronounce a word, while James was laughing uncontrollably. Lorreine looked from one to another, her eyes shining with fury, even though she tried to hide it. She took one of the chocolate frogs from Sirius' trunk and walked away, shutting the door with such force that the glass broke in pieces. "She took the last one!" said Sirius in a whisper. Still laughing James stood up and fixed the glass, then turned to Sirius "I think she was angry". "You think?" said Sirius sarcastically coming out of his shock.  
  
"Do you like her?" said a voice from the window.  
  
James and Sirius stared at him. Sometimes Peter was really slow to get the jokes and to keep up with them.  
  
"No, Peter, I don't. It was a joke" said Sirius.  
  
A few minutes after Lorreine's visit, the compartment door swung open and a head with dark red hair appeared. "Have you seen Lorreine?" said Lily Evans looking form Sirius to James to a sleeping Peter.  
  
James choked at the sound of the voice and automatically rumpled up his hair making it even messier than it had been. He gave her one of his killer grins, she scowled and turned to Sirius. "Have you?" she repeated.  
  
"Lily would you come—"but James was cut off.  
  
"I thought so" and with that she closed the door.  
  
It was Sirius' time to laugh. "You must've done something terrible to her to be this mad at you".  
  
"Nah!" said James making a motion with his hand as though it wasn't important. "she loves me, I can tell"  
  
The rest of the trip went without any other surprise, unless you count Peter setting James' cloak fire.  
  
Finally they arrived at Hogwarts. It was raining, but it wasn't very cold. The students descended and covered themselves with their cloaks, which didn't protect them from the rain. Lily met Lorreine near the carriages. "Hey, Lily, didn't see you back there, where were you?" said Lorreine sarcastically "oh!, of course, perfect prefects' carriage".  
  
"Come off it, Lor. Come one, we have to find a carriage" said Lily grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the horseless carriages, that stood under the rain, waiting for the students to climb up.  
  
Just then, the Marauders came talking about all the pranks they were going to make this year, and betting on who was going to be the first one who got detention. "It's going to be me" said Sirius, sure of himself, smiling at a group of girls, who were walking past them, giggling.  
  
"I told you, Padfoot, I'm the best at this stuff" said James, nudging Sirius on the ribs.  
  
"Sirius, watch out!" said Remus.  
  
Too late. Sirius, who wasn't looking where he was going, but at the group of girls who were smiling at him, ran into someone, almost knocking her to the ground full of mud. "Hey!! Watch where you're going, jerk!" said Lorreine, trying not to fall. "you almost made me fall into that puddle of mud"  
  
"Ooops, sorry Lor" said Sirius, with a sweet smile that would have made an iceberg melt.  
  
"Yeah, whatever" she said, turning to Lily, and climbing into the carriage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They stepped into the entrance hall, all wet and shaking. It was incredibly warm in there, and they could smell the delicious food that was waiting for them on the other side of the doors leading to the great Hall. 'This is home' thought Lily. Without Petunia wandering around and making fun of her, without people starring strange at her. She was very happy to be back, but sad at the same time because there were only two years left, then she would have to go and live with her parents and Petunia again, until she found somewhere else to live, that is.  
  
Next to her, Lor muttered a few words and her clothes dried, as well as her hair and face. Lily did the same thing while walking into the Great Hall. The four tables began to fill up. Then everything went quiet and the doors opened. Professor McGonagall entered, followed by a group of shivering first years. She was carrying an old black hat in one hand and a large parchment in the other one. She placed the Sorting Hat in front of the first years and started to call each name. "So, who is this years' first victim?" asked Sirius in a low vice, while Belfast, Nialls was sorted into Ravenclaw.  
  
Remus leaned closer, and James whispered "I think it could be..." he looked over to the Slytherin table, where Snape was looking at Chema, Zoe being sorted into Gryffindor. Remus and Sirius turned around too, following James' eyes. "Snape?" said Remus, smirking.  
  
"Snivellus" said Sirius putting a dreamy face "yeah, it's been a long time since the last day we played him a joke"  
  
"So, any ideas?" said Remus looking from James to Sirius.  
  
"Leave it to me" said Sirius, leaning back on his chair and yawning "I'll prove you both, that I can do a great prank"  
  
"Shhh" came Peter's voice. "Dumbledore is going to talk".  
  
The Sorting Ceremony was over, and Dumbledore was standing, with a big smile on his face and looking at them with a happy expression. "Welcome. Welcome back to Hogwarts. I expect you had a great summer, and I'm sure you're here, eager to learn more. I kindly welcome to our new students. Well, I can see you're all hungry, so I won't make you wait any longer. Good appetite!"  
  
The plates filled themselves with food. Everyone started eating and chatting animatedly. The Marauders where thinking about a way to make fun of Snape, a something they hadn't used before. This was kind of hard, they had played every prank that existed and didn't exist on him. After a while, the plates and glasses emptied themselves and professor Dumbledore stood up again. "We don't want to fall asleep on your first day of classes. Off you go now, good night".  
  
Everyone stood up and exited the Hall. James saw Lily addressing some first years, so they would follow her, Remus went to help her. As prefects they had to show newcomers around. She passed right next to James. He instinctively ran a hand through his hair. "Hi, Evans—"  
  
"Bye, Potter" and strode off, followed by a group of first years, without even looking at him.  
  
Behind her Lor said "Jerk" looking at Sirius as she walked away. 


	2. Bats and Howlers

Second Chapter Bats and Howlers Next morning, when the Marauders came down for breakfast at the Great Hall, they looked over at the Slytherin table, just to see a displeased, yet satisfied Malfoy siting in the middle of the table, surrounded by the usual gang of Slytherins. They sat down at the Gryffindor table. James saw Lily sitting with Lor, chatting animatedly. He ruffled his hair. "Have you seen Malfoy's face?" came Remus' voice from across the table. "he's so pissed off" and all four of them laughed.  
  
Just then the owl post arrived. Hundreds of owls came flying all over the Great Hall, searching for their owners, dropping packages and letters here and there.  
  
A big male owl came flying straight to the Gryffindor table and landed in front of the foursome, with an envelope on its beak. A red envelope. A Howler. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" said a voice from behind Peter, making him jump at the sound of it. All four Marauders looked up to see Malfoy, smirking, satisfied, at them with a malicious look.  
  
"Shut up, git" said Sirius, while Remus grabbed the letter as though it was a bomb that was about to explode anytime.  
  
"Why would someone send us a Howler?" asked James confused, looking from Sirius' to Remus' to Peter's stunned faces.  
  
"You think McGonagall knows?" said Peter shaking with fear.  
  
"Nah! Otherwise she would be standing in front of us breathing fire" said Sirius, "well, what are you waiting for, dear Moony? Open it, it'll only be a few seconds".  
  
Most of the faces turned to the Marauders' direction. They were eager to know what was in the Howler, or rather to listen what was in there. Remus, with shaking hands, ripped off the seal and carefully opened the letter. At the very moment, a sensual female voice emerged, amplified by magic, making each and every head turn around in the search for the source of the sound.  
  
"Oh, my God, James, you don't believe how much I love you. You're the sun in my life, the air I breathe, the food I eat. I could follow you every where, your black hair and those glasses make me melt" James turned red, more than red, he didn't know what to say. He looked at Sirius, whose face had a mock expression, which changed as he heard a second voice, female as well, but this time more childish, say:  
  
"Sirius, your eyes are just like two grey-puddles where I could drown myself into, where I could live, where I could swim all day. My source of living." Sirius' face turned light red and tried to hide himself under the table. But then it was Remus' turn to hide, as a third voice echoed through the Hall.  
  
"Remus you're an angel. You're the sweetest in the whole world. I could chase you, kiss you and touch you all day. You're the best kisser ever!!"  
  
"What the hell...?" Remus mouthed to Sirius.  
  
Sirius just shrugged coming slowly from under the table, while James uncovered his face, but they resumed their attempt to hide themselves when they heard all three voices again: "We love you guys!, Adela, Sirina and Adahy". Those girls were from 5th and were in Gryffindor too. In fact the three of them had a secret crush on each Marauder, not that it was a secret anymore. (A/n you can see we just ignored Peter, well, that's bound to happen, since we hate him so much, and we don't like to write about him!!)  
  
The red envelope turned into ashes and the Hall erupted with laughter, specially from the Slytherin table, while three 5th year girls from the Gryffindor table, stood up, face-covered, and ran out of the Great Hall. The students were roaring with laughter, they even had tears! Everyone was staring at the three of them. And Malfoy looked pleased as we watched the three grils running out of the Hall. Sirius, thinking quickly stood up, with shame in his eyes, James could see it, but he pretended to be OK with the joke played on him. He bowed twice, looking in every direction, then he laughed. "Well, what could've we possibly done to deserve this?" he said aloud " what a nice compliment! And Malfoy, don't be jealous, You'll get chicks like that some day". He winked at Malfoy, whose smile faded. He wasn't expecting this reaction from them.  
  
Remus and James just smiled at everyone and nodding to what Sirius just said. At the end of the table, Lily and Lor stood up and walked out of the Hall, muttering "conceited".  
  
Sirius noticed and nudged James on the ribs pointing at them. James saw Lily walking out of the Hall, with her best friend next to her. 'Yeap, she was mad at him again!' he thought. "Great! Potions with the Slytherins after lunch" came Sirius' voice seconds later, as James sat down and received the schedules professor McGonagall was handing them. He was thinking about the voices of those girls from the Howler. They weren't Adahy's, Adela's, or Sirina's. Actually, he had a faint idea whom that voices belonged to. He turned around and looked at the Slytherin table and saw Narcissa, Bellatrix and Nancy smirking in their direction, with the same pleased expression Malfoy had had when they had received the Howler.  
  
He knew it had to be them, for the joke the Marauders did to him in the Hogwarts express. Well, he would have to deal with that later, for a pay back. "And Care of Magical Creatures first thing today" said Remus, happily.  
  
After breakfast, the Marauders went to their Care of Magical Creatures class that took place near Hagrid's hut in the Hogwarts grounds, with professor Kettleburn. The Slytherins and part of the Gryffindors were already there. They just had to wait a few seconds for the class to be complete. "Listen up, class. Today we'll be studying some new creatures. Yeah, fascinating. Just wait. You'll see" He grinned and winked at the class. They were wondering what sort of "fascinating" creature they'd be studying today. You could never tell with Kettleburn, he always seemed to find the most weird creatures ever known in wizard kind.  
  
He turned his back to them, and they could notice some big, colourful birds in the background. They were orange, acid-green, pink, yellow. It looked as though they were trying to make a sound, they were opening and closing their beaks furiously, but for unknown reasons the class couldn't hear anything. They were all standing on perches, and they were inside a cage, a big one. Enough for the class to get in. "Ok class, we need to get closer" said professor Kettleburn, walking towards them. The class followed him, expectantly, commenting about the colours and the shape of those animals.  
  
He opened the gate and motioned the class to come in. But no one seemed very keen on taking the first step. After a few seconds Sirius, followed by Lorreine and Lily, stepped forward and got into the cage, staring at the birds, who now eyed the class as though they were intruders.  
  
One by one, the students got in as well, and finally professor Kettleburn closed the gate behind him. He, then, stood in front of the class. "Who can tell me what those birds are?"  
  
Immediately, to no one's surprise, Lily raised her hand. She was known to be top student, fighting for that place with Remus, James, and Sirius, who were almost as intelligent as she was. "Yes, Ms. Evans?" said the teacher with a big smile forming across his face.  
  
"They're called Fwoopers" she said, looking at back at him with the same smile. "They do not harm people and its chant has healing properties, but it can drive anyone mad when heard more than necessary".  
  
"Right there, as always, Ms. Evans" he said, his smile widening. He loved to give Lily points. "Ten points for Gryffindor". Then he turned to the animals. "Now these, here, won't harm any of you. They are only babies. But I've put on them a silencing charm. So you won't hear them singing. Now, I want you to take notes about them." He turned back to the class and started to wander around them. He stopped, however, when Remus raised his hand.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Lupin? You've got a question?" he said, facing him.  
  
"Yes, professor... erm, aren't they supposed to live far away from here?" said Remus, looking at the birds.  
  
"Yeah," said James "aren't you supposed to have a licence and be a full trained wizard?"  
  
Professor Kettleburn, for some reason found this funny, because couldn't help but smile. "You're right, you know? Only trained wizards. And a licence is needed. Another five points for Gryffindor" Remus stared at James, puzzled, while professor Kettleburn turned to wander through the students, watching them taking notes.  
  
Obviously he did have a licence. They couldn't help but think that even if they could drive them mad with its chant, they were beautiful animals, full of colour and life.  
  
Just then someone muttered something next to Sirius. "How can you tell the difference the grown ups from the babies? They look alike to me!" said Lor, with exasperation, looking at Lily's notes.  
  
Sirius gave a bark-like laugh "I bet that girl couldn't even tell the difference between a hand and a foot".  
  
Professor Kettleburn turned to look at them. Then he turned to watch Sirius laughing at Lor, with a serious look. "Miss Scarse, Mr. Black will be helping you on that one" he said, looking at Sirius' astonished expression.  
  
Sirius opened his mouth in protest while Lor's head turned in his direction. "What? No professor, you see, Lily will help me". She said.  
  
"Nope, she won't, she'll help me over here. Ms. Evans, would you please be so kind?" asked professor Kettleburn, while Lily stood up, watching amusedly Lor's expression.  
  
Sirius, reluctantly walked towards her, and for the rest of the class helped her. They made a pretty good team, he thought after a while, pity she was full of nothing but air. Though he liked to make fun of her whenever she said or did something wrong. James and Remus were sure the Slytherins were on to something. They were whispering separated from the rest of the class. And when they tried to point this to Sirius he just ignored them, as he was too busy arguing with Lor.  
  
At the end of the class he packed his things as fast as he could and started to walk away, when a sweet voice called him. "What?" he said dull, and desperate to go, while turning to face Lor.  
  
"Thanks" she said simply and walked past him, towards the castle without turning back. Sirius just stood there, looking at the Forbidden Forest, taking in what had just happened.  
  
The rest of the day was uneventful. Gryffindor won more points thanks to Remus and Lily (James and Sirius had been really busy, planning another prank, obviously forgetting about Remus' advice, to stay away from trouble or they would force him to take points from his own house).  
  
******************************  
  
September went by, and October came with Sirius', Peter's and James' detentions. They had hexed a Head Boy's hair. Now instead of hair, he had a garden, full of roses, daisies and other flowers. They swore the didn't have anything to do with it, but their expressions spoke for themselves. And this incident seemed to piss Lily off, which was one of the reasons why she took 50 points from Gryffindor. And to make matters worse, it was this particular moment, when James tried to ask her out once again. She just walked away muttering something about "bullying just for hobby". Halloween was getting closer, and Hagrid had already the usual pumpkins to decorate the Great Hall.  
  
One afternoon they were sitting at a table in the Gryffindor common room, far away from the rest, which was weird, they used, and liked, to be the centre of attention. "So, Hogsmeade just before Christmas" said Sirius, glancing over at James. Peter looked at him questioningly, but James knew exactly what he was talking about.  
  
"Yeah, I know. Do you reckon she'll accept to go with me now?" he said, his eyes searching for a red head around the common room.  
  
"What do you mean "now?" asked Remus, tuning the page of a pretty big book. "have things between you two changed?"  
  
"Ha! Yeah, sure, Moony. You really think that can happen?" said Sirius, looking at Remus and then smirking at James, who took no notice, he was busy searching for someone.  
  
Lily wasn't in the common room, and he was starting to wonder where she could be. He spotted Lor talking to Anabell Wein , also one of Lily's and Lor's friend. He left the other three talking about a joke, while James went to ask Lor if she had seen Lily. "Hi Lor" he said. She didn't look at him, but continued to chat with Anabell. "Um... have- have you seen Lily? I wanted to ask her if she would come with me to Hogs—"  
  
"How many times do I have to tell you" came a voice he knew only too well from behind him "I won't".  
  
James turned around to face a red-haired, green-eyed girl, who was carrying lots of books. She just came from the library, her favourite place in Hogwarts. "Coming from the library, aren't we?" he said grinning. He obviously thought she couldn't resist it.  
  
"Can't you take a hint, Potter?" came Lor's amused voice.  
  
"They're just not enough to make me give up" he said grinning even more broadly, not taking his eyes from Lily. Her lips curled up into a smile, but she became serious immediately.  
  
"Why don't you invite one from your fan club? It was really nice to send you that Howler" she said. He shuddered at the thought. "They seemed to know you pretty well and keen on going out with you" she sat down, opened a book and hid her face behind it.  
  
Sirius came from behind and clapped James on the back. "Rotten luck, mate!" he said while staring at Lor.  
  
****************  
  
Halloween day came and the girls were heading to the Great Hall for breakfast. The owl post arrived just as Lily, Lor, Anabell and some other friends sat down at the table. The owls had to make their way between the bats, that were already flying around the Hall. Lily got a copy from the Daily Prophet and opened it while chewing a bit of toast.  
  
"So, where are you spending Christmas?" said the Cheryl sipping from her cup of tea. "Anything planned?"  
  
"Mom says she wants to go to France or to Greece. She wants to take me with her, but I'd rather stay here at Hogwarts." said Lor as though talking about a weekend trip, eating a toast, not looking at any of them.  
  
"You'd rather stay here than going to Greece or France? "said Adele starring at Lor with wide eyes.  
  
"Yeah! I'd stay here instead of spending holidays with them. Do you have any idea how hard is that?" said Lor closing her eyes and shaking her head, trying not to think about that.  
  
Just then Lily choked on a bit of toast and opened her eyes wide, while still clutching the Daily Prophet in her shaking hands. "What is it?" said Lor alarmingly. "C'mon, breathe!"  
  
"Look at this!" said Lily, with a shaking voice, showing them the article she had been reading.  
  
In the centre of the page was a big picture. It showed what had been a house, it looked like a muggle house. All that was left now where ashes and smoke. But above the house, in the sky, floating like a ghost was a big, shiny, green skulk, with its mouth open and a snake coming out of it. It was creepy, it gave Lily chills. The girls read the article, then they looked up at Lily, horrified. "An attack? In a muggle town?" said Lor, breathless. "what does it mean?"  
  
The article said, that five muggles had been murdered. No reason at all. Five young, healthy muggles were found dead this morning. The muggle police was trying to find the responsible, but they had no idea who could have done something like that. Kill someone doing no harm at all. But the girls and the magical community knew better.  
  
"It wasn't a muggle" said Arabella "It can't have. Only a witch or a wizard could have conjured this symbol and left it floating in the sky". All five girls looked at each other, trying to find some answers.  
  
"Mom... dad..." whispered Lily, suddenly realising what this could mean. She automatically stood up, she didn't know where she was going to go, but she had to see whether her parents were OK or...  
  
"They're fine" said Lor still reading the article "they put the names of the muggles who were killed. Your parents' name aren't here". Lily relaxed a little bit and looked around. People who, like them, had read the article were whispering and talking about it. They looked scared, specially the muggleborns. Most of them rushed to write home. The Slytherin table, on the other hand didn't show any sign of concern at all. Lor stared at them too, thinking the same as Lily. She was sure they were glad at the news. Most of them thought this was the way things should be. No muggles around. But it was just nonsense.  
  
During the day, rumours could be heard in the corridors, between classes or during them. Everyone knew about the attack, and they were wondering who could have done such a horrible thing. They were all sure they had used one of the Unforgivable Curses, and were discussing whether the culprit was going to be caught. But none of them gave much importance to this matter. They thought it had to be some mad wizard. The Marauders were talking about this during Charms, while professor Flitwick was explaining the wand movement of a particular hard spell. "The pictures were horrible!" said Peter, scared and shuddering.  
  
"Yeah, I know. Poor muggles, though" said Remus, copying down what Flitwick had just written on the blackboard.  
  
James and Sirius turned around, both of them had worried expressions. "Who do you reckon did it?" asked Sirius.  
  
"Whoever did it must have gone mad" exclaimed James. "That definitely isn't something a muggle or a wizard sees every day".  
  
"Silence, you guys" said Flitwick's squeaky voice.  
  
They stopped talking and started to take notes. After a while bell rang and all students stepped out of the classroom. It was dinner time, so they headed to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. It was, if possible, better than how it was in the morning. Hagrid's pumpkins were really big. It looked as though he had put a charm on them. There were candles floating all over the Hall, and the bats were still flying above their heads. The staff table was already full. All teachers were sitting there, waiting for all the students to sit down.  
  
Lily and Lor were walking just behind Remus, James, Sirius and Peter. They noticed that the foursome had malicious looks, and couldn't help but note that a joke was drawing nearer.  
  
The food was delicious. They had mashed potatoes, beef, chicken, spaghetti, french fries, Yorkshire pudding, ice cream, all kind of sweets. Everyone was enjoying themselves, talking animatedly.  
  
Anabell sat next to Lor and they started to chat, forgetting about the weird expressions of the Marauders, when they heard a loud pop! And turned their heads, trying to find out what had just happened. But they couldn't see what was wrong. Everyone was laughing, specially the Marauders, so the girls were sure that it had to be one of their jokes, although they couldn't tell what had happened this time. Even a few Slytherins were laughing, pointing at a particular big and ugly bat, that was soaring above their head, moving its wings furiously. Just then professor Kettleburn came walking between the Slytherin and the Hufflepuff tables, and stopped just where the big bat was flying. It seemed as thought a faint smile was playing on his face, but when he heard James' and Sirius' voices making fun of the moment, he raised his wand. "Finite Incantatem" said professor Kettleburn, and just then the big, black bat disappeared and a teen boy, with greasy black hair, and a crooked nose appeared. It was Snape.  
  
"They turned him into a bat?" whispered Lor, amusedly, staring at a very red Snape, standing in front of the whole Hall.  
  
"When will they grow up?" said Lily exasperated.  
  
"Come on, Lily, it was funny" said Lor with a big smile on her face, staring incredulously at her friend.  
  
Everyone was still laughing, when professor Kettleburn returned to the staff table and sat down next to professor Stowe, with a faint smile on his face. Just then Dumbledore stood up and the Hall became quiet. "Well, after this" he suppressed a smile "'incident' and a nice meal, I think we are ready to go to bed now" he said, while staring at the still- giggling students.  
  
Everyone stood up and headed out of the Hall. Lily was following Lor, when she heard a voice whispering in her ear. "Nice joke, huh?"  
  
"Get lost, Potter"  
  
*******************  
  
Snape was constantly the topic of many jokes for the first couple of weeks in November. Lily couldn't help but feel pity for him, even though he sometimes could be a complete moron and a jerk. She tried to point this out to Lor, but she just waved her hand saying something about people who deserved what the had for being so mean and stupid, and continued reading her book. Lily had a serious talk with the Marauders about that incident. Not that you could actually have something "serious" with them, specially with James and Sirius. They kept laughing at it and tried to convince Lily that they weren't responsible for it and that she should forget about it.  
  
It was a particular cold day of November and it was snowing, while sixth- years Gryffindors were siting, inside the Transfiguration classroom, in front of a toad. They were supposed to transform it into a rat. So far only James and Lily had managed to do it. Lor still had problems with the whiskers, although her rat was de-tailed, while Remus only needed to get rid of the green colour. Peter had already given up, his wand laid forgotten next to him and he was daydreaming. While Sirius took no note of this toad and was playing with James. There were just five minutes left of class, when professor McGonagall stood up in front of the class.  
  
"I have an announcement to make, now that there are only Gryffindors here." She said, looking at them. "There is going to be a dance. A Christmas Dance, for fifth, sixth and seventh years only" everyone started to murmur things, and looking excited. Lily and Lor smiled broadly. The Marauders wore mischievous smiles and James looked over to Lily. "Silence!" yelled professor McGonagall over the murmurs. "Well, as I was saying, there is going to be this ball, next Holidays, we still don't have the date yet, but we will be informing you. Though, you don't need partners for this ball" some faces fell, and James' excited expression became a frown. The sound of the bell signalled the end of the class, and as the students gathered up their stuff and talked about the ball, McGonagall called Lily and Remus over. "Mr. Lupin, Ms. Evans, please come here."  
  
"So what did you do this time Moony?" said Sirius in mock, while heading to the door. "We'll wait for you downstairs. Come on James, there's a group of fifth years trying to gain our attention. Let's make it easy for them" and they left. Lily and Remus walked over to McGonagall a little nervous.  
  
"I'm not going to tell you off. I just want to tell you both that as Gryffindor prefects you'll have to open the dance, along with the other houses prefects. Lily didn't know what to think. 'Open the dance?' 'with Remus?' but it wasn't as bad as she thought. After all Remus was ok, and he was a great person.  
  
"And you need to set the date for the ball. That's all, you may go."  
  
Besides it would be just one song, and they wouldn't be alone, they'd be with the other prefects. They left McGonagall's office and headed to the Great Hall. Lily went to sit with Lorreine and the rest of the Gryffindor girls, and they immediately started to talk about the ball. Remus, on the other hand, went to sit with the Marauders. Sirius looked up and asked "What did she want?"  
  
"Oh, nothing, really" said Remus, siting next to James, who was still eyeing lily, while she was chatting with Lor and Anabell without taking note of Remus. "She just wanted to tell us that lily and I have to open the Christmas dance along with the other prefects" at this words, James choked with his pumpkin juice, spilling it all over the table.  
  
"Geez, Prongs, get a grip" exclaimed Sirius, disgusted.  
  
"I know," said Remus, understanding why James had choked. "But I've got an idea. You'll see what I'm going to do. You'll get to dance with her, mate. Trust me.  
  
*************************** 


	3. Christmas Ball and Change of Feelings

Third Chapter Christmas Ball and Change of Feelings The last week of November came, with a storm of snow. The Hogsmeade visit was going to be cancelled, but fortunately, for the students, the weather improved. Students were lined up in the entrance Hall, in front of the oak doors, waiting to go out. Filch stood at the door, with a list in his hands, making sure no students went out, without permission. Lor and Lily were chatting, when Anabell, Cheryl and Adele appeared, wearing their cloaks over their uniform, just like Lorreine and Lily.  
  
The girls had a great day. Even though it was cold, they could relax from studies, teachers, homework, and in Lily's case, from James. They visited the Shrieking Shack, the Post Office, they even dragged Lor and Lily into Zonko's. Both girls refused to go in there because they were sure they were bound to meet any Marauder in there. They were one of the few, if no the only girls, who never took notice of how charming, cute and hot they were and despised the fact that they cursed and bullied anybody just because they could, even if that didn't stop Lor from laughing at one of their jokes. But they were lucky, because the four boys were very busy making fun of Snape in front of The three Broomsticks. "So, Snivellus, what have you been up to?" said James laughing along with Sirius. Remus had a smile on his face, but took no part of this, just like Peter, but that was just because he was afraid.  
  
"Trying to wash our hair, aren't we?" said Sirius, pointing his wand at him.  
  
"What do you want?" said Snape, looking from one to the other, with pure disgust.  
  
"Ah, nothing, actually, we just wanna have fun" said Sirius, swishing his wand playfully. People started to look at them, smiling. They loved to see the Marauders playing pranks and making fun of someone, but didn't like being that someone.  
  
"Come on guys, let's go to the Three Broomsticks" said Remus. Sirius took a step forward to Snape and said "Saved by the bell, dear Snivellus" and turned away to follow his friends.  
  
"Why did you have to cut the amusement?" Sirius asked Remus, catching up with them.  
  
"You can't just curse him in the middle of the street, Padfoot" said Remus reasonable. ",besides, I don't think James would have liked Lily to see him making fun of Snape, now, would you, Prongs?"  
  
They sat down at the bar. A pretty young lady approached with a big smile on her face noticing who they were. "Dear Rosmerta!" said James enthusiastically.  
  
"Have we told you how pretty you look?" continued Sirius, with one of his charming smiles.  
  
"You look just gorgeous" corroborated Remus.  
  
"You guys come here just to make fun of me, now, have you?" said Madame Rosmerta, laughing at the foursome.  
  
"Not a chance in the world!" said Sirius grinning. "Is that a new perfume you're using?"  
  
"Come to lighten up my day, don't you?" said the woman with a big smile. "What do you want, guys?"  
  
"We'll have four butterbeers, please" said Remus, just when the door was opened and five girls stepped in, covered by snow.  
  
"It's a pity we don't need partners for the ball" said Anabell to the other girls "I would've loved to go with that Ravenclaw beater. He's so cute"  
  
"I think it's better so." said Cheryl leading the group towards a table on a corner, far away from the rest.  
  
The Three Broomsticks was packed with weird people. Being the only magical town, it was likely to be that way, full of strange people who couldn't disguise themselves from the muggles. "I'll get the drinks" said Lily, walking towards Madame Rosmerta, who was laughing at something.  
  
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Lor "I forgot to buy a present for my little brother. I'll be right back, I'll see what I can get" she stood up and exited the place, letting a cold wind in as she opened the door, without noticing that someone had seen her go.  
  
"Hey! Sirius, wake up" a voice brought Sirius back to reality. James was handing him a bottle of butterbeer. Sirius just stared at the door, remembering that the last time Lor and he had talked had been in their first Care of Magical Creatures, and that he hadn't been nice to her. Nevertheless, she had thanked him for the help he gave her. And since that day, he couldn't forget those eyes, even when he had tried to push that thought to the back of his head .  
  
"Yeah, I'll have the same as you." said Sirius, without paying attention to any of the guys. He stood up and crossed the pub, leaving his friends with puzzled looks and James muttering 'what the heck is wrong with him', stepping into the cold and windy streets of Hogsmeade, searching for a certain girl.  
  
James was still looking puzzled and at the door, when Remus nudged him on the ribs. "You may want to see that" he said, with a soft chuckle, looking in the other direction.  
  
James turned around and spotted a pretty red-haired girl talking to Madame Rosmerta, sitting at the bar. He grinned to Remus and walked towards her. She had her back at him, so she couldn't see him. he approached carefully and overheard her talking, while rummaging her pockets. "I am sure I had a galleon" said Lily exasperated, searching for it. "somewhere here..."  
  
James took a few steps closer in silence, taking a galleon out of his pocket.  
  
"Looking for this" he whispered, stretching his hand, so she could see the galleon.  
  
She turned around and stared at him for a moment, without blinking. Without taking his eyes from hers, he leaned over, until they were only an inch apart, and placed the coin in front of a smiling Rosmerta, who was eyeing them suspiciously. He, then, grabbed the five bottles, still looking into those emerald eyes, which haunted his dreams every night. "Where to?" he asked her. She shivered unwillingly.  
  
"What do you want?" was her reply.  
  
"I believe this young man, here, is being quite a gentleman." said Madame Rosmerta, smiling at James. He winked at her as a thank-you, and turned to Lily again, grinning even more broadly. He handed her the bottles, which she took hesitantly. She started to walk towards the table were Adele, Cheryl and Anabell were sitting, when...  
  
"Thank you" she said with a faint smile. He just stared at her, standing by the bar, with a big, goofy smile on his face. He just winked at her and returned to where Remus and Peter were.  
  
She walked to the table, and noticed that Lorreine wasn't there. She looked inquiringly at her friends. "Had to buy something for her brother" said Cheryl receiving a bottle of butterbeer.  
  
"And Sirius went after her!" said Adele, giggling.  
  
"Sirius what?" asked Lily, not sure she had heard correctly.  
  
"We don't know" said Anabell. Rolling her eyes.  
  
Lily sat down a little bit confused by what happened with James and by what the girls had just said, thinking seriously if Sirius would follow Lor. They didn't get exactly well... come to think about it they were always fighting.  
  
But all the same, Sirius had followed her, and was looking for Lor.  
  
Sirius walked along the stores, packed with students and teachers. He found her making her way to Honeydukes, through a group of seventh years, who turned around to stare at her as she passed. Sirius walked past them muttering to them a very cold 'what are you looking at', without even noticing. He opened the door and felt instantly warm. The place was crowded with students who were trying some of the new sweets that had just arrived. He spotted Lor at the back of the store, in front of a stand full of chocolate frogs. She was really amazed to see all kinds of chocolates. There were ones that changed colour in you mouth, and painted your tongue with it and lasted for days, others would scream if you bite their heads and others were full of different-flavoured cream.  
  
There were a bunch of frogs in a cage that were bouncing up and down, with some labels hovering over them, where the different flavours could be read. She took one cage, trying to decide a flavour for her brother. "Hmm... I think he'll like mint-chocolate..." she muttered to herself, not noticing that a cute, black-haired someone was just inches behind her.  
  
"Nah, bubblegum is better." He whispered in her ear, with his sweetest voice, making her jump and gasp, she let the cage fall to the floor, it opened and the frogs jumped away through the customers, leaving chocolate dots in the carpet.  
  
Sirius tried to catch them, laughing at her, but he failed, and from the corner of his eye he saw the owner approaching. He seemed pretty mad. Without thinking, he grabbed Lor's wrist and pulled her to the closet that was a few steps away from them. "We better stay here, until the owner goes away" he said, still smiling mockingly at her for the incident. "I don't want to get in trouble, not if I didn't cause it."  
  
"Yeah, where's the fun, huh?" she said exasperated. He had scared her to death, dared to touch her, and even pulled her into a closet full of boxes and dust. "So you're saying that all this was my fault? I believe, Black, that it was you the one who scared the living hell out of me."  
  
Sirius stared at her with indignation. "I was only giving you some advice. Mint chocolate frogs are yuck! "  
  
"Yeah, well no one asked for your advice" she said, noticing that they were awfully close. She could even smell his essence. She came back to reality. "and stop following me. Or are you going to tell me that you ran into me just by coincidence." She spat to him, with anger.  
  
Sirius got mad at this. Why would he want to follow her? "For your information I just came to apologise for that class of Magical Creatures. I was kinda mean to you. But you know what? That's too much for you, so just forget it. If your little brain knows what that means, Scarse." And with that, he opened the closet door, stepped out and closed it with such force, that some boxes fell down.  
  
Lor stood in the middle of the narrow room, processing what had just happened. 'He wanted to apologise?' 'Sirius black?' She slowly opened the door and stepped out as well, receiving some curious looks, but without noticing it, until some 5th, 6th and 7th years approached to her, smirking, some even had jealous looks on their faces. "How on earth did you manage to be inside a closet with gorgeous Sirius?" said one of them, with and impressive look, although with a hint of jealousy . "Alone! "  
  
She just smiled at them, without even noticing it. She was still glaring at the door Sirius had just gone through, thinking about how he had gotten mad when she had asked him if he was following her. And about how he insinuated that she had no brains. 'Does he really thinks that way about me?' she asked herself, making the girls stare at her with even more curiosity. 'Well, what do you care, anyway?' Said another voice in her head. She walked through the door, trying to forget about everything, making her way back to The Three Broomsticks, not caring about the present she had to buy for her little brother.  
  
The day at Hogsmeade passed quickly. By the time they were in Hogwarts, it was already really dark outside, and it only was 4 o' clock. All four girls entered the common room, freezing and laughing. They were about to climb up the stairs to the girls dormitory, when a voice called. "Lily!" it was Remus, who was sitting with the rest of the Marauders, in front of the fire. The other girls climbed up, and left Lily behind, at the foot of the stairs. She walked to Remus.  
  
"We have prefects meeting in ten" he said. "To set the date for the Christmas ball, and the next Hogsmeade visit, along with the other prefects"  
  
"Oh yeah. Right"  
  
"Shall we go?" asked Remus, a little bit worried. She didn't seem to be in the same world, let alone in the same room.  
  
"Yeah, right"  
  
They exited the common room, Remus was still eyeing her from the corner of his eyes. She seemed deep in her thoughts, far away from here. She was bothered by something, but she wasn't quite exactly sure about it. She just felt something strange inside her, that she couldn't possibly put into words.  
  
They arrived in time, they just had to wait for the Hufflepuff's prefects to come. They discussed the different dates, which one would be more appropriate and all the stuff that concerned it. They had some problems with Malfoy and Bellatrix, because they wouldn't agree to anything that the others were suggesting, and what was worse, they never gave ideas. But after almost two hours of work, they managed to set the date for the Ball, the hours and the date for the next Hogsmeade visit.  
  
It was already late, when Remus and Lily made their way to the common room, which was deserted, except for three people, who were talking in front of the fire, with serious faces, very unlike them.  
  
Lily bade good night to Remus, and climbed up the stairs, leaving him alone in the common room with his three friends. It took a while for them to notice him, where he stood staring at the staircases. "Moony, how was the meeting?" asked a very excited Sirius. "Any news?"  
  
Remus sat down and told them how the meeting had gone, the date and hour of the Ball and Hogsmeade visit. Until James remembered something and cut him off. "Don't you have something to tell me, Moony dear?" he asked with a significant look. But Remus stared at him puzzled. "You and Lily, opening the ball? Does that ring a bell?"  
  
"Oh! That!" exclaimed Remus. "Yeah, right. Well I thought about something that might work. It's dangerous and we could get in detention, but if you think it is worth it, just to have a dance with precious Lily-"  
  
"Absolutely!"  
  
"Well, then we have to start right now" he said grinning. He knew his friend would anything for her, so he told them about his plan, and when they should start.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"No! Peter, don't!" BANG!  
  
A loud sound echoed through the room and the corridor. Peter lay (A/n sorry if that's wrong, We always get messed up with those word... laid, lay... neway.. keep reading...) on the floor, with boxes all over him, while two pair of eyes closed, praying for patience and that no one heard that.  
  
It was past midnight, and three Marauders were inside the Room of Requirement, preparing a potion, whispering to themselves.  
  
"Peter!" said Sirius, exasperated. "clean up that mess, and don't touch anything! "  
  
"Sorry" whispered Peter. He leaned down to pick up the boxes and the shattered glasses, while the door of the room swung open, and then it closed itself. Out of thin air appeared the fourth Marauder, with a package on one hand and the map and the invisibility cloak on the other. He threw the last two things to the corner of the room, and sat down next to James and Sirius.  
  
"Did you get it?"  
  
"Yes," said whispered Remus, showing them the package he was clutching. "What was all the noise for?"  
  
"Peter," muttered James, motioning to him with his head. Peter was still cleaning up the mess. "Did you have any problems?"  
  
"Nah! I'm a Marauder, am I not?" Remus said proudly "no one was around, so it was easy. I just hope, Stowe (A/n... potions master's name, just in case) doesn't notice."  
  
"I wonder why the bicorn horn and the boomslang skin didn't appear when we thought about this place" Peter said frowning, getting closer to the potion.  
  
"Because" said James exasperated, grabbing the package Remus was handing him and opening it ", we're not exactly allowed to use it. That's why it is not in the students' cupboard, Peter"  
  
"How can you be so thick, Wormtail?" said Sirius, laughing.  
  
"I just hope it works" said James, while adding the ingredients to a shimmering potion.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Finally Christmas Ball day came. It was Thursday, and they were only going to have a half day of school, so all the students could have plenty of time to prepare themselves. And Friday's classes had been cancelled, so they could go home, to spend the Holidays with their families. The Great Hall was full of Christmas decorations. Twelve Christmas trees stood on either side of the Hall, and there were green and red banners hanging from the ceiling. It was hard to concentrate that day. Everyone was talking about the dance, so they didn't pay attention to anything. So some teachers decided to give their hour free. Only McGonagall decided to continue with her class and she even gave them work for the Holidays. A five foot parchment about animagus transformation. "Evil! That's what it is!" said James, coming out of McGonagall's class room, heading to the common room.  
  
The classes were over, and the students were returning to their respective common rooms, to get changed and ready for the dance.  
  
The five Gryffindor girls were already in their room, getting ready. Each one had their robes on their beds, and were talking about the great time they were going to have in a couple of hours. "Nervous about opening the dance?" asked Adele to Lily, while she stepped out of the bathroom.  
  
"Just a little bit" she answered. It was the first time she thought about this, after that day when McGonagall gave them the news. And coming to think of it, she felt more than 'just a little' nervous.  
  
The girls got dressed and had to take turns to use the mirror. There was only one, and there were five girls, and all of them needed it for the make up and to see how they looked. After three hours, they were ready and beautiful. Adele, Cheryl and Anabell went down first. Adele wanted to meet her Hufflepuff boyfriend, so the other two walked her to the Great Hall. "So, ready to go down?" asked Lor, smiling at their reflection. She had to admit they had done a pretty good job choosing the robes and with the hairstyle.  
  
"Why wouldn't I be?" Lily said, walking to the door.  
  
"Well, a certain black-haired someone with glasses will be downstairs, waiting to see you" she answered with a wicked smile following her.  
  
Lily chose to ignore this. True, James was going to be there, and he probably was going to ask her to go out or something, but she had decided to ignore him and to have a good evening. There was a pretty Ravenclaw guy, she had met at the library a week ago, and she was hoping to spend some time with him, to get to know each other better.  
  
The common room was full of fifth, sixth and seventh years, each wearing different-coloured dress robes for a change. The Marauders stood at one corner, arranging the last few details of Remus' brilliant plan, when James looked up and felt himself melting. There, at the foot of the stairs was a pretty red-haired, green-eyed girl, talking to Lor, with a big smile. James couldn't help but grin, catching the attention of her fellow mates. "Damn! They look gorgeous!" came Sirius' voice from his right side. Al four guys stood there looking at the girls. And not just them, almost every head in the common room was looking into their direction, and they had seemed to noticed this because Lor whispered "Lets get out of here, shall we?"  
  
They went through the portrait hole, and into the corridor, leaving more than just four guys open-mouthed. Specially a certain Potter guy, who came back to reality only when Remus whispered "Are you ready for the potion?"  
  
The boys stepped into the corridor, which was almost deserted. Most of the students where either in their common room or already in the great Hall. "Quick!" said James to the others "I can't be late!"  
  
"Or rather Remus can't be late" said Sirius, watching the reaction of his friend, but it never came, he was immersed with his thoughts. "Relax, Prongs, we won't be late"  
  
They entered the Requirement Room, and took the potion out of the closet and placed it on the table. "Remember that you've only got an hour" said Remus warningly. "Don't stay longer!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The door of the Great Hall opened and the students stepped in, awwww's and ohhhhh's could be heard, once they saw how great the Hall looked, with the trees, the candles, the lights and the banners. Al four tables had disappeared, instead of them were round tables for five all over the Hall, with matching napkins and tablecloths. The teachers were already sitting at the High table, beaming at the students. Then professor Dumbledore stood up and everyone fell silence. Lily was looking for Remus, he wasn't anywhere to be seen and they were supposed to dance. "Prefects" said professor Dumbledore, and immediately the music started to sound. The Slytherin's, Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's prefects stepped into the centre of the hall. Lily was getting desperate, when she felt someone pulling her towards the dance floor. In front of her was a sweaty Remus, beaming at her. He put his hand on Lily's back and the other one grabbed Lily's free hand. For an unknown reason, she felt chills down her spine, while she stared at Remus' eyes. There was something different. "Are you ok," she whispered, while dancing along with the other couples. "Where were you? what took you so long?"  
  
"Relax, Lily. I'm here, so that's what matters"  
  
She stared at him, a little bit puzzled. She noticed that he never took his eyes off her once, throughout the four songs they danced, non stop.  
  
"Should we sit down? I am getting tired"  
  
"Sure, Lily. Want something to drink?"  
  
"Erm... yeah thanks."  
  
Remus went to get her a drink. She had a really good time. She already knew Remus, he was a nice guy, unlike James and Sirius, who were complete pranksters and unconsiderate. They talked about everything, even Quidditch. She never knew Remus could be such a Quidditch fan. He never went for the Quidditch them and wasn't as obsessed as James. 'he's full of surprises' she thought. She looked across the room and saw Lor scowling at Sirius, and turning back to talk with a seventh year Gryffindor boy, who was smiling charmingly at her. And a few feet away was Peter in front of the food table, eating. She searched the room, trying to find someone. 'Funny' she thought 'I haven't seen Potter' but she forgot about him when Remus offered her a hand and asked her to dance.  
  
They walked to the dance floor and he hugged her. She was slightly surprised, but something inside her made her put her arms around his neck and lean her head on his shoulder, inhaling his sweet smell. 'Wait' said a voice inside her head 'This is Remus we're talking a bout' but all the same she did it. By doing this she couldn't notice Remus' goofy smile, spread across his face, while dancing. A few minutes passed, when Remus opened his eyes, just to check that Lily was still there, next to him, dancing with him, when he noticed Sirius trying to get his attention, standing next to Peter. It took a while for Remus to understand what he was trying to say. He suddenly started to feel strange, and he couldn't see perfectly well anymore. Everything was getting cloudy. His time was up. He had to go back to the requirement room. He stopped dancing, and before Lily could look up at him, he ran out of the Hall.  
  
Lily didn't know what was happening, Lily could see the back of Remus, making his way out of the Hall, running into a group of students, who were standing at the entrance, almost knocking them over. 'Strange' she thought. But something made her look at him again. Since when did Remus have black hair?  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	4. Christmas at the Black’s

Fourth Chapter Christmas at the Black's 'He can't have disappeared' she thought, looking up and down the corridor, breathing hard. The place was deserted, but she was sure he had come this way, she had been following him, then he had turned around a corner and had disappeared. 'He has to be here somewhere' but she wasn't exactly sure who she was talking about, Remus or James. It had been very confusing, she had been dancing with Remus, but there had been something strange about him, and then he had stopped dancing and ran away, with black hair growing from his head.  
  
"I'm telling you Moony, it was really close" said a male voice from behind her. She turned around to find two boys making their way down the corridor. She stood there, staring at them. "She almost noticed that it wasn't you the one—"  
  
James stopped on his tracks, so did Remus. The three of them stared at each other for what it seemed to be ages, not one single word was spoken. But it was enough for her to understand what had happened.  
  
Slowly, Lily turned around, closing her eyes, and started to walk away. But she felt a pair of arms grabbing her shoulders and turning her around. She didn't make the slightest effort to back away. And without looking at those eyes, or at Remus, who was standing behind them, expressionless, whispered. "Why? "  
  
"I'm sorry Lily. I—I just... wanted to dance with you tonight." said James slowly, "and Remus had an idea, and I thought it could work. So you could dance with me and you wouldn't know."  
  
"That's the problem, James" she whispered back, now looking into those big hazel eyes, that were once filled with mischief, but were now full of sorrow. She was surprised to note that she wasn't angry, she was just sad, and in some way disappointed. "You can't do things like that. You have to think before you act" she said calmly, not taking her eyes of him. "You should have asked if I wanted to dance with you."  
  
"But then you would have said no straight away." said James, melting and shivering slightly.  
  
"How can you tell?" she asked backing away. Lily walked down the corridor, and when she was five feet away from him, she turned to face him again and whispered. "Now, you'll never now, will you?" and with that she returned to the common room, leaving James, looking at the ground, his head hanging, and Remus, behind him, speechless. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Thanks for coming with me, mate." Said Sirius, throwing his clothes into his already messy trunk. It was the next day, and the students were getting ready to go home for the Holidays. "I can't even imagine Christmas just with my mom and my dear cousins. And even worse, there's going to be this party, so my house will be full of snob people, who think they're better than anyone else. I'm sick of it" he sat down on his bed, with a disgusted look.  
  
James knew that Sirius didn't like his family, for this whole muggle-thing issue. Personally, James didn't like them either. He was only going, because their parents knew each other, although James' parents didn't share that thought, and to keep Sirius company. "Hey, don't worry, be happy" said James smiling, throwing his PJ's into his trunk.  
  
"Sorry for not going, Padfoot." Said Remus, coming out of the bathroom. "But there's full moon in two days, so I'd rather stay here." His expression was full of sadness. "Anyway, I have to catch up with some reading, and Peter'll keep me company." Peter smiled at this.  
  
Sirius and James said nothing, they thought it was better this way.  
  
"But," said James grinning mischievously "when we come back, we'll bring down the Slytherin common room, won't we?"  
  
Four smiles followed this statement. They wanted to make fun of the Slytherins, and for that they thought that redecorating their common room was a good thing.  
  
They finished packing their trunks and went down to the common room, it was already empty except for two girls who were walking to the portrait hole, talking.  
  
"Thanks so much, Lily" said Lor to her friend, climbing through the hole, and stepping into the Fat Lady's corridor. "I can't imagine spending Christmas with my dear family. And even worse! There's this party, and my parents are invited. And you know what sort of people will be there, I can't stand them!" she was getting angry. Her family wasn't exactly her favourite conversation subject. "Thinking about it, it's the first Christmas I spend with them. Obviously my mom wants us to look like the perfect family, after all my dad is the minister" she finished with a disgusted face.  
  
Lily saw her eyes, full of sadness, even if she didn't want to talk about it or admit it. "Hey, don't worry, be happy!" she said with a reassuring smile. "We're going to have a great time." Then she realised something. "I think we better keep the I'm-a-muggleborn thing quiet. Otherwise your mom will have a heart attack."  
  
Lor hadn't think about it, and now that Lily had mention it, she was right. "But even if my mom doesn't know you, face to face, she does know that my best friend is Lily, and that her parents are muggles."  
  
A wicked smile appeared on Lily's face and stared at Lor, with her hands on her hips. "Who told you that Lily is coming over to the party?" Lor was puzzled, what was she talking about? "I introduce you to Gemma your new best friend."they both laughed at this. "Now come one, hurry up, or we'll miss the train."  
  
Filch stood in front of the doors, as always, checking a list. Students were saying goodbye to their friends, wishing them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, putting their cloaks on and stepping into the cold wind of December.  
  
The Marauders stood at one side of the Entrance Hall, bidding good bye to Remus. Peter was missing, he probably had his leg stuck into one of the steps of the Hogwarts staircases, or maybe he was lost, trying to fins his way back to the common room. This was very likely to happen to Peter . (A/n did ya notice that we don't like him??? heheh...... poor Peter.......... Nah! He deserves it right!).  
  
"You better send me good presents this year" said Remus, while hugging James and giving him some claps on his back. Sirius and James laughed, but were a little worried as well.  
  
"Don't go strolling around, Moony" said Sirius warningly. "not without us" and he grinned.  
  
Just then Lor and Lily walked by. James noticed her and his expression went from happiness to sadness. "It'll be ok" said Remus realising who James was looking at. "She'll forget about it."  
  
"Remus is right, mate" said Sirius, reassuringly, "besides you said she wasn't mad"  
  
James just sighted and stared at Lily who was climbing into the train after Lor. "You never told me if you liked that dance with dear Remus/James" said Lor, opening a compartment door, stepping in and sitting by the window.  
  
"I just don't want to talk about it, ok?" said Lily staring at the station, recognising Remus, standing there, waving. She watched Hogsmeade station become smaller and smaller, until it disappeared.  
  
The train ride went ok. The girls slept most of the time, so they didn't notice when two black-haired, handsome boys opened the door and stared at them for a couple of minutes, before closing the door and heading back to their compartment. By the time they arrived at King's Cross Station, it was dark and really cold, and the streets were covered with snow. Lily and Lor grabbed their trunks and crossed the wall between platforms 9 and 10, while the guard wished them Merry Christmas, stepping into the muggle world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily entered the Scarse Manor, impressed by the Christmas decorations. Lor's house was really big, full of expensive things, and house elves. She never liked to talk about the fact that she had lots of money, and that she was the Minister's daughter. She had never invited Lily over to her house, but she had stayed at the Evans' house many times. Lor felt excluded from her family, she always said that her parents had lots to do to take care of their daughter, or to even be bothered bye her. They had to travel a lot, all around the world, and since she was a kid, she had never been able to have a proper conversation with them, and she always felt alone in that house, even if there were hundreds of house elves, her nanny, and her younger brother. She had swore that she would never leave her brother alone, so he wouldn't feel lonely like her. He always received presents from her, she remembered him everywhere and liked to buy him things. He was ten, and next year he would be starting Hogwarts.  
  
Both girls were tired, even though they had a nap in the train ride, so they went straight to Lor's room to rest. Lily was shocked to see how beautiful Lor's room was. It was really big and cosy, very modern. There were pictures of her and her brother all over the room. It was obvious that she had been to many other countries with her parents. She had a huge closet full of magic and muggle clothes, very fashionable. Her bathroom had a full size mirror and you could find tons of magical creams, shampoos, make-up and all sort of things.  
  
"Lor, honey" said a voice from the door way. Lor's mom, Lily supposed, stood there with a smile. "You're home" Lor stared at her, disgust written all over her face. She was used to spend holidays alone or at Hogwarts because her parents used to travel a lot around those dates.  
  
"What are you doing here, mom? Shouldn't you be... somewhere else?"  
  
Lily was feeling a little bit uncomfortable, and Lor's mom was looking at her, inquiringly. "This is Gemma" said Lor, without enthusiasm, pointing at Lily. "She's going to stay here for the rest of the week. You know, so I won't be alone on Christmas day... again."  
  
"Rubbish, dear" said Mrs. Scarse, still looking at Lily, while laughing. "I love to spend Christmas with you, Lorry. Your brother left with your dad. He had to go to Peru to a very important meeting, and to give a good impression. You know Gemma, dear" she said turning to face Lily. "as the Minister, he's got to give the best impression. I had to stay because we were invited to a party, so we'll be all going." She finished with a smile.  
  
Lily looked over at her friend. Sure enough, Lor was going to complain, but she realised what her mom had said about her father and brother being in Peru. 'How come she had stayed? She always said how wonderful it would be if she went to Peru to visit Machu Picchu.'  
  
Her mother's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Don't forget, the party is tomorrow night. Well, good night. And Gemma, dear?" she said staring at Lily again "Feel at home" with that she closed the door, leaving both girls alone.  
  
Lor showed Lily the dresses they would be wearing for the party. They were so beautiful, that Lily could hardly see herself wearing that dress. After a while both girls fell asleep, thinking about the party, but Lor was awaken by certain voices coming from her parents' room. lily was still asleep, so she opened the door, and without making any sound, exited her room and walked down the corridor of the second landing, following the sound of the voices.  
  
She reached the door, that was ajar, and stood behind it, trying not to breath too hard, so she could heard what they were arguing about.  
  
"What the hell did I do to deserve this?" was saying her mom, with tears coming down her cheek. "I gave you everything. Why did you cheated on me like that?"  
  
Lor thought she had misunderstood her mother's last sentence. She opened the door a little bit and looked inside the room. Her mother was kneeling in front of the fire, that was burning green flames, with his father's face in the middle, wearing a concerned look.  
  
"And with Aliana! You cheated on me with Aliana!"  
  
"Look, I'm sorry things went this way" said his father, not caring about her wife crying desperately. "But our relationship is never going to work, and you know it. If we haven't divorced yet, it is because I would loose my job and your friends would laugh at you. Besides, you would end up without a single knut."  
  
"And what about Lor and Matthew? What do you plan to do with them?"  
  
"They've got nothing to do with this. You know I love them. Besides your not the best mother. Look, I have no idea how you found out about us, but for yours and your children's sake, keep your mouth shut" his father's head disappeared, and Mrs. Scarse began to break everything that was near her. She threw her perfumes to the wall and the glass shattered, but she didn't care.  
  
Lor closed the door and ran away, crying. How could her father cheat on her mother? The Minister himself! She was sure she had heard that name before. Aliana. She went downstairs, to her father's office and closed the door behind her. In front of her was a big closet, where she knew, he kept important papers and a book, with the name of all the people who worked at the Ministry. She grabbed a quill and wrote on the first page of the book 'Aliana'. The pages began to blow as though caught up in a high wind, stopping halfway at the name of 'Aliana Dotergust' and the blank space underneath the name, began to fill up with information about her. Suddenly she remembered where she had heard that name before. She was her father's secretary. Ad both of them had made a lot of trips to different places, many times. She was about 22 years old, and they had met 3 years ago, when she first came to the Ministry to work as a secretary. 'Since when is he cheating on my mom' she had tons of questions exploding inside her head. Lor couldn't bear it anymore, she closed the book, put it back in the closet and closed the office door. She went back to her room, where Lily was still asleep, and got into her bed. That night she couldn't sleep at all, but she was decided not to speak a word of this. She didn't want to screw Lily's Christmas. So next day she tried her best to act as though nothing had happened, just like her mother. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Lorreiny, dear" came a voice from the corridor outside Lor's room. "You have to be ready by eight, hun. And remember that as the Minister's daughter you have to look great and perfect."  
  
They were at the Minister's residence. Lily stepped out of the bathroom and sat next to Lor, whose head was in her hands. She stood up and closed the door while saying: "I can't stand her! Cynical, that's what it is! If I want to I'll go with tablecloth! Lily, you think your family will want to adopt me?"  
  
Lily just smiled at her. She had noticed that Lor was acting strange, since the morning. But she didn't dare to ask her. "We better hurry, or else she'll get really mad."  
  
When they were ready, the went down stairs to the kitchen, were Mrs. Scarse was giving some orders to a couple of house elves. She had her hair up in a knot with small diamonds and a gold dress that made her look a bit thick. Lily tried to cheer Lor up, but failed. What she didn't know was that Lor felt hurt, because of what she had heard yesterday, but she didn't want to ruin Lily's Christmas, so she kept quiet and tried to force some smiles. "It looks as though my mom has painted herself with a brush" whispered Lor, and both girls giggled.  
  
Both of them wore long and simple, yet tight, dresses, that made them look gorgeous. Lily's dress was light purple and crossed in the back. It had little diamonds all over the dress that made her shine. Half of her hair was in a knot, and the ends of her hair were coming out of it, giving it and elegant look. She didn't have too much make up, and it was soft. Lor, on the other hand, was wearing a green dress, with her back uncovered. Her hair had glitter that made it shine under the moonlight. Her hair was straight, that made her look very different, specially if you were used to her beautiful locks. She only had a lock of hair over her face. They looked great. "Girls, you look gorgeous. I would take a picture of you, but we're already late" said Lor's mom, staring at them. "You look just like decent witches, the way it should be" Lor grimaced at this. "Ok, well let's go. Gemma, you go first. Take some Floo Powder"  
  
Lily stepped in front of the fireplace, and was about to grab an handful of powder, when she noticed that one of the house elves had grab it for her and was waiting for her to step into the fire. So she got in, feeling the warm sensation of the fires around her body, and then the house elf threw the powder and scream where she was supposed to go. She couldn't hear him, because in that exact instant, she felt herself being pulled forward and she started to spin around, catching brief glances of what was happening out of the different fireplaces. Until everything stopped, and she was thrown out of de fireplace, into the cold floor of a nice-looking living room. She cleaned the ashes of her dress, just when the fire turned bright green and Lorreine stepped out of it, while a very thin woman, looking very pale, wearing a silver dress with a big know at the back of her head, appeared. "Welcome" she said with a sweet voice and a cold smile, staring at both girls. Then she glanced at Lily and asked, "And who are you, my dear?"  
  
"Erm, I'm... I'm Gemma—"started Lily but was cut off by Lor's mom, who had just arrived.  
  
"She my daughter's best friend" said Mrs. Scarse "and here" she said grabbing Lor's shoulders "is my precious daughter." Se finished with a big fake smile.  
  
"She is so beautiful" said the woman, now looking at Lor, who was rolling her eyes at her mother. "Now, I hope you don't fell out of place. My son brought a friend. They are both from Hogwarts and about your age. Maybe you know them. Come one, follow me" she walked out of the living room followed by Lor and Lily.  
  
The house was huge. The corridors had lots of different paintings, who turned their heads towards the girls direction, whispering and muttering. Lily felt awkward and intimidated.  
  
They went out, to the back garden, that was full of Christmas decorations. There were dancing threes, and big ice statues that never melt, at the centre of the garden. There were lights all over and small tables, where the guests were sitting, drinking and eating. there were also many elves, serving drinks and food, dressed in red and green outfits.  
  
Lily noticed a few couples dancing over what would have been the pool, a huge pool. She looked again and was stunned by what she saw. The couples were dancing over the pool, but it was as thought there was a glass, a big, think glass over it, and you could see fishes, dolphins and even a whale swimming under the glass, lily was delighted by the sight.  
  
She realised they had followed the woman until they had reached the food table. And in front of it, there were two tall, black-haired boys, eating, with their back to them. The got closer and then turned.  
  
Lor and Lily gasped.  
  
"Sirius, James" said the woman, who know Lily recognised as Sirius' mom " This is Lor, the Minister's daughter, and her friend Gemma."  
  
They boys stood there astonished, staring at the girls, who couldn't believe their eyes... and their luck.  
  
Sirius had a black robe, with a lose tie and the first button of his short was unbuttoned. Her hair was combed, but fell handsomely to his face. James wore a blue robe, with a tie that had little brooms in it, flying around. his hair, messy as always, you could say that was the Potter's mark. The moonlight illuminated their faces, making them look even more mischievously then ever.  
  
Mrs. Black was still beside them, watching the scene. When James snapped out of his trance, look intrigued at Lily. "Gemma? Her name is not—"but James couldn't finish her sentence. Lily muttered "Wanna dance?" and without waiting for an answer, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the dance floor.  
  
Sirius' mom stared after them, then turned to watch Sirius and Lorreine and smiled. "Hun, why don't you dance with Lorreine ? so she won't be alone?" she gave a warm look to Lor, and them a cold glance at Sirius, as tough it was an order, before leaving them alone.  
  
"Come one" said Sirius, mad at her mother, grabbing Lor's wrist and taking her to where James and Lily were dancing, far away from the rest of the couples.  
  
"What was all that?" asked both guys at the same guys, while Sirius grabbed Lor's hand and started to dace.  
  
Lily and Lor started to explain everything while they danced. They told the boys, that if Lorreine's mom found out, they would be dead, and to please keep it quiet.  
  
James laughed at this and whispered in her ear, bringing her closer to him "So I've got you in my hands"  
  
"Not even in your dreams, Potter!" she said separating from him a bit.  
  
Lily and James just danced, while Lor looked at the floor, not even noticing that she was starting to worry Sirius. "Is there something wrong, Lorreine?" asked Sirius. She was a bit pale.  
  
"Yes... yes, I am fine"  
  
the song ended and Lily let go o James' hand. She grabbed Lor's arm and both of them disappeared into the house. The boys looked at each other, just when Bellatrix and Narcissa were approaching, so they mixed themselves among the crowd.  
  
"Running away from heir fans?" came a very cold voice from beside the window, who was non other than Malfoy himself..  
  
"Give me a yell when you leave, Malfoy" said Sirius, turning away from him "so I can disinfect the house"  
  
Malfoy looked at them full of hate, while Sirius laughed. But James got worried. What if Malfoy found Lily? He sure was going to give her a bad time, not to mention that could blow off the whole secret. 'I have to find here, before he does'.  
  
The girls made their way to the living room, without seeing any Slytherin or the boys. Lor spotted her mother, chatting with some important people, with a big smile on her face. "So he couldn't come, he had some work to do, so he went to Peru. But, you know. That's a Minister's life" she was saying.  
  
Lor couldn't take it anymore. 'How can she pretend so good' 'Is as though she doesn't care. As though she's not hurt. Is it only because of the money?' "Lily, I'm going upstairs" she turned to Lily, who was standing by the window, watching the moon. "Is it ok for you?"  
  
"Yeah, sure. Don't worry. I'll find something to do"  
  
Lor climbed up the stairs, to the second landing and entered the first door. She didn't care where she was going to, she only wanted to get away from all the people who were down there. She closed the door behind her, without turning the lights on. The moonlight illuminated a messy room, with two beds and two trunks, clothes everywhere. She automatically realised that this was Sirius' and James' room, by the names on the trunks. Their Gryffindor robes lay on the floor next to the bathroom door, and she didn't saw one single book inside their open trunks, unlike Lily's that was full of thick, old books. Their bed were undone, and all the sheets were almost on the floor and their Pj's were on a basket at the corner, one of them was blue, and the other one was bright red and had little snitches (A/n who can guess whom each one belongs to? lol) on one bed was a Photo Album, with "S.B." written at the cover, a wand and boxers, with little bears on it. This would've made Lor laugh out loud, but she was too sad, to even curl her lips.  
  
She heard noises outside the door, in the corridor, and saw that the window in front of her was open, so she decided to go through it, leaving her shawl over one bed. She walked on the roof, careful not to fall, and sat down, way back so no one would spot her, covering her eyes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ James was still looking for Lily, hoping that Malfoy hadn't found her first, walking behind Sirius, who was breathing fire, hardly bearing the fake smiles everyone gave him and his mother's voice on the other side of the room, laughing. "I can't stand my mom any more" said Sirius, he closed his eyes, claiming for patience "look, I'm going to get outta here, I need to breathe. I'll be right back, OK?" Sirius left James in the living room, with his brother Regulus and Malfoy behind him, who were staring at him as though we was some dust in the carpet. So he resumed his search for Lily. He didn't want to start a fight with Sirius' younger brother or Malfoy in the middle of the party so he left without noticing that Lily was behind him, but at the sight of both Slytherin guys, she stopped and hid herself. 'How could I've been so stupid' she thought, watching the boys smirking at James' back, 'We forgot that the Slytherin would be here as well.' If they saw Lily, then they would screw everything. She decided to go outside, to the front yard, that was empty, but she had problems walking through the crow, without receiving curious looks and catching attention. Finally, after crossing the living room, the entrance hall and pushing a tall boy with glasses, she exited the house, and received the cold wind on her face.  
  
James felt being pushed aside, and when he turned around he was happy to see a beautiful girl in a purple dress opening the front door and disappearing through it. With a big, satisfied smile, he followed her.  
  
He closed the door behind him, making no noise. She was standing there, looking at the sky, with her shawl around herself, to keep herself a bit warm. He stood there behind her, in some kind of trance, admiring everything about her. 'Gosh, she's so beautiful' 'Every gesture, every move that she makes, makes me feel like never before'  
  
He walked slowly towards her, taking off his robe and placing it over her shoulders, making her jump a little and turn around to face him. "Feeling cold?" he asked, with a faint smile. He still wasn't sure how she was feeling towards him, after the dance. Though, she didn't seem mad.  
  
She stared at him for a couple of seconds, before sitting on the stone steps, muttering "Yeah, thanks"  
  
"What are you doing out here, alone?"  
  
"I could ask you the same question" she replied, looking at the moon... one day until full moon.  
  
"Had to take some fresh air" he said, staring at the moon, as well "Regulus, Malfoy and some other Slytherins are here. If they see you, then Gemma'll be dead"  
  
"Yup, I know. That's why I'm here."she looked down, and stared at him, expressionless. He could be really nice, when wasn't pulling any prank, or cursing people. It fact, Lily liked him when he was like this.. 'Hold on a second' she thought, looking at him 'this is James Potter... you hate him'  
  
"Lily—I—"he was getting closer to her, she could feel his warmth. She suddenly stood up, returned him his robe and turned to open the door, when he grabbed her wrist and swung her around, so she was now staring into his eyes, behind his glasses. "I know you're mad at me, Lily—"  
  
"I'm not mad at you James" she looked at the floor, feeling his hand closed around her wrist, and his eyes on her. Without knowing that a head was watching them from the roof of the house, half hidden in the shadows of the night, trying to free her mind from all her problems.  
  
Just when a smile crept along Lor's face, a sound came from room Sirius' room. She tried to hid herself even more, hoping not to be found.  
  
Sirius opened the door of his room, his head aching as his mother's words sounded in his head. Without turning the lights on, he unbuttoned his shirt, thinking about her mother, and deciding that it was best to lay on his bed, even if he wasn't tired. He took off his robe, his shirt and his tie, and threw them to the basket of dirty clothes. He was about unzip his pants, when he saw something that didn't belong to his room. A green shawl was on his undone bed, a shawl from...  
  
He heard sobs outside his window. Curious, he crossed his room towards it, and stick his head to take a look at the roof.  
  
He was surprised to see and girl with long, straight hair, in a green dress, half illuminated by the moonlight, covering her eyes, sobbing. It was Lorreine, sitting on the roof, Sirius' favourite place in the whole house. This was the only place where he could not be found or seen by anyone. He could think about his problems, take some fresh air, relax, watch the moon and remember his friends and all the stuff they did, do and will do under the full moon. Yet, she was there, crying about something. He thought about leaving, he was feeling very uncomfortable just standing there watching her. But something stopped him. He couldn't leave her alone, like that. He felt and urge to know what was wrong, so he walked towards her, making no noise, and sat next to her. His leg brushes her arm as he sat down sending her shivers and startling her. She opened her eyes wide with surprise and stood up almost falling down and loosing balance, she tried to leave, but Sirius grabbed her wrist. "You don't have to go, you know?" then he gave her a weak smile "Am I such a bad company?"  
  
She looked down at him and when she saw him smiling she thought she was going to lose balance and fall down. It was his famous smile, weak, yeah, but the cutest she'd ever seen.  
  
She hesitated for a moment, 'would he make fun of her?' she thought. 'No, even he can't be that insensitive, can he?'. She needed someone to talk with, and Lily wasn't there, besides she was probably busy with James. "It's... it's my- my dad!" she said, tear coming down her cheeks, unable to control them.  
  
"You don't have to tell me anything" said Sirius, noticing that this was clearly hard for her, more than he would've thought.  
  
"... but I want to, I need to. My dad, he... he cheats on my mom" she couldn't help it anymore. She hugged Sirius and cried over him. She needed someone to rely on, she needed to tell him this, maybe he could help her. He hugged her back. He was shocked, that was really a big problem, 'how could she carry that inside her, without bursting' he thought, as some butterflies appeared inside his stomach. "...he cheats on her with a woman that could well be my older sister!" she looked at the stars, words wouldn't come out of her mouth, even if she tried.  
  
Sirius thought that this must be really hard for her. He had never seen her like that. She normally controlled herself, she didn't like other to notice she was sad or pissed off. Without thinking, he put an arm around her shoulder, making her shiver. But she leaned her head and rested it on his shoulder.  
  
Tears kept coming out of her eyes, even when she tried to hide them. 'I'm crying in front of Sirius Black! The big joker who didn't use to have feelings' she thought. But right now it looked as though Sirius did have feelings. "The worst thing is that my mom knows about it, but she won't do anything about it. She says it'll make no good. She thinks she could lose everything." She had stopped crying, but her eyes were still watery. "Keep appearances, you know? Not that she's got anything worth to regret losing it".  
  
"I don't know, Lor. Look, I think you should-"  
  
A voice came from inside Sirius' room.  
  
"Sirius? what are you doing out there? I've been looking for you all over the house!" said Sirius' mom, sticking her head out of the window "Oh" she exclaimed, seeing who was the person who was leaning on her son's bare shoulder. Sirius was half naked, outside in the roof, hugging Lor, who by the way, had red ayes. "Oh—erm... Lor, dear, your—your parents... erm... they... are leaving". And blushing, she went back inside, leaving the two of them alone again.  
  
Lor stood up as fast as she could, looking at the garden, where two figures could be seen from up there.  
  
"I don't even know why I told you all this" she said, not looking at him.  
  
"Maybe it's because deep in your heart you know you can trust me" he said staring at her, drowning into those beautiful eyes, that where red and puffy now. Silent fell and both of them stared at each other for a while. "You know I won't tell anything" Sirius said in a low whisper putting his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I know"  
  
"See? You do trust me" said Sirius with a big smile across his face, breaking the tension. "Oh, please!" snorted Lor, then she laughed "I'd better be off" she looked at him in the eyes.  
  
"Lor..." there was something that was dying to come out of his mouth, he wasn't sure what it was. He wasn't even sure whether he wanted to say it. Not now at least... He had to think about it. "... take care of yourself. And if you need to talk, you can come to me and be sure nothing will appear in the Daily Prophet".  
  
She just laughed, 'he could be really charming sometimes, no wonder all the female population at Hogwarts melts'........................ woa!!!!! Where did that came from??? She sure wasn't...... but then.... Nah!!!......  
  
He walked to the window and went inside, closely followed by Lor. He grabbed her from the waist an helped her in, closing the window after her. "It's cold" he said, shivering.  
  
"No wonder," she said "you're not wearing your shirt."  
  
For Sirius' expression, it looked as though he hadn't noticed this particular detail. He opened his eyes wide and looked at his bare chest. Lor giggled, while he turned around, grabbed his Pj's shirt and put it on. When turned back to look at Lor, she was gone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An hour later he was still awake. James was already in bed, asleep. There was another thought in Sirius' mind, even if he wanted to push it to the very back of his brain. He kept asking himself how could Lor tell him what was bothering. She usually ignored him. 'Gosh, is she beautiful?............... hey!! No!!!!!!! What was that???' ' she's a stupid little girl' he thought. 'she only cares about material things, and she even thinks she's always in the spotlight!'. "James?" ... Silence... "Are you asleep?"  
  
"Mmmmmphhhh, yeah!" came a voice from underneath the blankets on the bed next to him. "what is it?"  
  
"No—nothing."  
  
"Oh, no. You don't wake me up for nothing, now tell me what's up?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	5. New Arrivals

Fifth Chapter New Arrivals  
  
"Quidditch practice this Friday" said James cheerfully, the first day of classes after Christmas break while sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Sirius had tried to tell James what had happened with Lor the night of the party, and how he had felt while talking to her, but he couldn't find the right words. They had reach an unspoken agreement that night. Even though there was something changing inside them, they wouldn't need to talk about it, until they were sure of what they felt.  
  
"When is the first match?" Asked Remus, holding the Daily Prophet in front of him.  
  
"In three weeks. So Gryffindor needs to start practising as soon as possible" said James, grabbing a toast a pouring butter on it.  
  
"But isn't next match Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw?" asked Peter, staring at the back page of the paper Remus was holding.  
  
"Yes, Peter, but we need to practice as much as we can. We have to win this year... again" finished James with a big smile, looking over at the Slytherin table, where Malfoy sat, between Nancy Parkinson and Narcissa Black.  
  
"Another attack!" said Peter, suddenly, pointing at the newspaper, horror- struck. Remus immediately turned to the last page, to see what was Peter talking about.  
  
There, in the last page, were four medium pictures of the same green skulk with a snake coming out of its mouth, that was shown early in September, hovering over four different, houses, all of them were destroyed. But this time they weren't muggle houses. Under the picture was a not-too-long article of the incident, saying that all four houses belonged to a half magical, half muggle families and that it had happened right after Christmas. There were no survivors, the bodies seemed to be perfectly normal, besides from the fact that they were dead. This assured that one of the unforgivable Curses had been used against them. There was still no suspects, and the Ministry workers were having a really bad time answering many questions, fixing memories, and trying to cover the whole thing, that was even worse, because the Minister was still in Peru.  
  
James looked up, and saw that many students were crying uncontrollably, being comforted by their friends. He saw one of the Ravenclaws chasers crying because of the news. At the left side of the page was a list of the names of the people who had died. He recognised half of the names, being friends parents, or family friends. Then his eyes stopped on Lily, who, James was surprised to note, was staring at him. There was fear written all over her face, as she stared into James' big hazel eyes, but after a second, she returned to read the paper, under the curious looks of her friends.  
  
He had been too busy reading the article and staring at Lily, that he hadn't noticed that a brown owl stood in front of him, with a letter attached to its leg, waiting for him to take it. It was his father's owl.  
  
"Petry!" he said. He took the letter, carefully, and opened it. He noticed that the letter had been written in a rush and there were ink stains all over the parchment:  
  
iDear son,  
  
I believe that you already know about what happened. We have no idea who could have done this, but we're searching for answers. There's a complete mayhem at the Ministry, so I'm going to be away for a week, so I need you to take care of your mom. Write daily and watch over her, she is ok, just a little nervous about all this. Stay at school, and don't get into trouble. Take care of yourself. Love, Your dad./i  
  
James' father was one of the greatest aurors in the wizarding community. And he was well know by everyone. He, sure enough, had been assigned to search for the responsible of this.  
  
Murmurs could be heard in the Great Hall, the ones who had received a copy of the newspaper, where telling other students about it. Everyone wore horrified expressions. Then professor Dumbledore stood up and the Hall felt silent. "Good morning, students. I want to interrupt your breakfast, just to tell you about this regrettable incident. Most of the victims were very well know in our community, and I know this has affected us all . I will be having a few words in private with some students after breakfast. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this, but I personally prefer the truth," he was serious now, no hint of his playful smile, or the sparkle in his deep blue eyes, behind his half moon spectacles. "there is a dark force growing among us" a tense silence followed this statement." And we have to stay united and fight it together, we have to be strong and face this in the best way possible." Everyone stared at professor Dumbledore, not daring to speak a word, stunned by what he had just said. Most of them didn't want to believe him, but it was true. Something evil was starting to gain power, and they would have to stick together to overcome it.  
  
"I have another announce," he said, a few seconds later "we have a new student arriving today, in a few minutes. Her name is Heath Plachêtte. She was transferred from Beuxbatons. She will be in sixth year, and in Slytherin. It's an honour for us to have her here, and I am sure you all are going to help her feel like home, specially her cousin Malfoy." Everyone looked over at Malfoy, who had a weird expression.  
  
The marauders smiled at each other, as though it was their birthday. "Great!" said James, still clutching his father's letter in his hand, looking at his three friends, who smiled at him in response. "Another Slytherin to make fun of"  
  
Just then the doors of the Great Hall burst open. At the doorway stood McGonagall, looking serious, as always. Anyone who didn't know her would say that she was an evil person, but the Marauders knew her only too well, and were the only ones who could make her laugh, even if she was really angry. But what caught everybody's attention, was the person who was standing next to her, with a big, warm smile, looking around the hall full of curiosity. She had big blue eyes, long, black hair, with her tips dyed in red, that stood out, brightly. Her robes were open, and showed a nice ironed blouse, with a green and silver stripped tie. And a short skirt. Shorter than the skirts worn by the girls in Hogwarts.  
  
"Ah! There she is" said professor Dumbledore enthusiastically. "I introduce you to Heath Plachêtte."  
  
Every single head was turned in her way, observing her. She was really beautiful. All the guys had big smiles on their faces, muttering this to the person sitting next to them, not taking their eyes of her.  
  
"Remus, put something inside your mouth, or close it!" said Sirius, laughing. "You bloody traitor!" he said, looking at Heath again. "She's a Slytherin, and our dear Malfoy's cousin!"  
  
"I haven't said anything!" said Remus, blushing and looking outraged. "Besides she looks kind of arrogant"  
  
"She's pretty, though." said Peter's shy voice. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Feel lucky, Evans" said James with a wide smile and bright eyes, while winking at her. It was Monday evening, and they were at the common room.  
  
Lily looked up and saw James' happy face. "Why? You just talked to me".  
  
James stared at her for a second, his smile fading, but it came back to its place when he said "Ha, ha, ha. Funny. I love that sense of humour of yours. But, no. I came to ask you to come with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend. How about that, huh?"  
  
Lily looked up again. Her face was expressionless, just staring at him. He looked like a little kid, waiting for her mother to give him permission to do something, a good word for him would have been "cute". Her heart was pounding, feeling his gaze on her... 'Why?' she thought, her heart was going to explode any minute now. She resumed her reading, while muttering, "Where did the luck go?"  
  
"I'll take that as a 'yes' " said James with a triumphant look.  
  
"You're really bad at taking hints, Potter. I'm not going with you"  
  
James looked disappointed and his smile faded completely "Why not?"  
  
"I don't want to. I have other plans."  
  
"You must be joking, right?"  
  
"Why would I be joking?" And with that, Lily closed her book, gathered her things and stood up. Any minute longer and she would have accepted, but that wasn't a choice for her, not with James. "I'm going to bed, Lor. Good night" She crossed the Common Room and climbed up the stairs, leading to the girls dormitories, leaving an astonished James standing like a fool, next to the armchair. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The next morning, Lor and Lily went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Lily was very tired, she had spent the whole night thinking about James. He had been sort of nice lately, and then he had appeared last night, just like that, inviting Lily to Hogsmeade in the most arrogant way possible. As though she ihad to/i go with him. She had had some hopes that he might have changed. Yet again, maybe she was wrong. But inside her something had definitely changed, 'Why do I have this growing need to be beside him? he's annoying, Lily, you can't stand him'.  
  
A couple of seconds later, the usual owl post appeared, delivering letters or packages to its owners. Lily was surprised to se a really beautiful, white owl, landing in front of her, almost knocking her glass of juice. She swallowed the bit of toast she was chewing, and grabbed the letter. It had her name on it, and she recognised the handwriting as her sister Petunia's. She ripped the envelope, and unfolded the letter, wanting to know what was written in it.  
  
But what she read in that parchment made her world crumble in less than a second. It couldn't be, it had to be one of Petunia's sick jokes. She just wanted to give Lily a bad time for not spending Holidays with them. It had to be that, it couldn't be true. "Lily, what is it?" asked Anabell, from across the table, noticing Lily's face and the tears that were coming out of her eyes. She was shaking furiously.  
  
"I—"said Lily, still holding the letter in front of her. "No... it can't be—true."  
  
"What is it?" asked Lor, now more urgently, taking her eyes off a certain Marauder. "Lily, what does it say in there?"  
  
"My mom... ca— car... accident... she's... she— dead... /i "she stood up, as fast as she could, fearing that her legs would carry her. She wanted to go home, disappear, become invisible, so she wouldn't have to feel... anything.  
  
She ran along the space between the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw table, tears coming down her cheeks, but no one noticed this, except four Gryffindor girls, who were sitting next to her, and a certain boy who was sitting a few seats away from her, and had seen her shaking and crying.  
  
She was nearly at the Hall door. 'I can do it' she told herself. She felt her legs aching horribly, and then she ran into someone. The last person she wanted to meet in that state. Malfoy. She kept her balance, but she staggered, looking at the floor. She felt Malfoy being knocked down, and then getting closer to her.  
  
"Watch where you're going, /i" he stressed the last word.  
  
"Watch who are you calling that way, Malfoy" said a stronger voice behind her. She recognised it immediately. It was James. But she didn't care, she was too sad, too hurt, she felt too much pain to pay the slightest attention.  
  
Malfoy took out his wand, just like James, at the same moment, and pointed it to each other.  
  
"Potter! Malfoy!" said professor McGonagall, making her way towards them. She had been watching the whole thing from the staff table. "What do you think you're doing?"  
  
But James was looking for Lily. She wasn't there anymore, she had gone. And he didn't know where. He needed to find her. He took no notice of McGonagall while she was yelling at them, nor did he paid attention, when she said after him "Fifteen potions off, Potter."  
  
He walked into the Entrance Hall, but she was nowhere to be seen. Then he had an idea. The only way he could find out where she was, was with The Marauders Map. He ran to the Gryffindor common room, and up to his dorm, knocking a couple of students, yelling 'sorry' after him. He opened his trunk, and took out the map. And there she was, sitting alone, crying her heart out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
James climbed the stairs to the Owlery as fast as he could. He had seen her crying like mad, and he really wanted to know what was wrong. If it was because of Malfoy, he was going to make sure he paid for that one. He got to the door, and turned the knob slowly. He could hear sobs and sniffles. "Lily?" he said in a sweet voice that would have made anyone melt. "Lily, I know you're in here". He closed the door behind him, and spotted Lily sitting on the floor, with her hands around her knees and with her head down, she was shaking and choking in her own tears.  
  
He crossed the room, waking some owls up, and stood in front of her, not knowing exactly what to do. He was feeling pain taking control of his body. "Talk to me. Come on, insult me, call me a pig-headed... anything" James bent down until they were at the same level.  
  
She lifted her head slowly. James thought she looked cute and sweet, with her face all wet and her eyes red from crying. He felt an urge to comfort her, to hug her, to kiss her. She looked at him with those big emerald green eyes, and he felt himself melting. Lily couldn't bear it, she needed to get all the pain away from her. Without even thinking she leaned closer and hugged him. It took James a while to realise what was happening. Coming out of his shock, he slowly put his arms around her, hugging her back. They stayed like that for a minute or two. Lily's mind was racing, she felt suddenly warm. Then realising who she was hugging, feeling something weird in her stomach, she let go of him. Narrowing her eyes she said in a whisper. "What are you doing here? How did you know I was here?"  
  
James looked down at her. "I was worried about you so I followed you" he wasn't going to mention anything about the map.  
  
"Since when do you worry about people? " tears coming out of her eyes and down her cheeks.  
  
James stared at her for a moment, taking in her essence, her beautiful eyes, and noticing that his arms were still around her waist. He leaned closer, he could feel her breath. "Since you came along."  
  
She lowered her head and backed off. "Go away" said Lily.  
  
"Sometimes it's better to talk about what's bothering you".  
  
"Why would I do that with you?" she really wanted him to leave. She had told herself she hated him for being such a prat, but this last few days had being weird. She found herself gazing at him more than once, whenever she saw him on the corridor she felt this weird thing in her stomach, like when she was in a roller coaster. She had never felt like that before, and it was scary. Having him so close was making her sick. This new feeling and the pain she was feeling for the loss of her mother was really uncomfortable. She hadn't even taken in what she just read, and it seemed like a nightmare.  
  
He looked at her with a big grin on his face. He had seen her fall into her own thoughts and then coming back. "Come on, why won't you let me be your friend?" he said. She felt his eyes looking through her.  
  
"Why do you want to be friends with me?"  
  
She was just gorgeous, he thought. He regarded her, and then without thinking about it, he ran a hand through her shiny red hair, making her shiver unknowingly. "You have no idea how many times I've asked myself that question." he said.  
  
Suddenly, everything became quiet. Each pair of owl eyes was set on those strangers, who were leaning closer and closer sending chills to each other. James reached for her face and cupped it in his hands, feeling her fast breath. He could've never though that a girl could do that to him, this feeling was new to him and what was worse, he didn't now what to do about it. But if it made him feel so alive and warm, then it must be something good. He was immersed in his own thoughts, just as her, when they were just inches apart. Then the owlery door swung open and a group of noisy fourth years came in. They didn't notice the couple at first, but as they crossed the room, they stopped talking and stared at a happy James and a red-eyed Lily.  
  
James stood up and offered Lily his hand. "Let's go back to the common room".  
  
She took it and both of them disappeared through the door, leaving five curious standing in the middle of the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I am so sorry, Lils." Said Lor, with watery eyes, sitting besides Lily, looking at the floor, in the girls dormitory. Lily, after talking to professor Dumbledore in his office, was still crying, she couldn't believe it. Her mother... dead? She wouldn't see her, ever again! How was she supposed to get over this?  
  
"They didn't even find her body, just the car. It's destroyed!" she said between sobs. "We won't even be able to bury her. Petunia doesn't want me to go. She said I have nothing to do over there, she doesn't want to see my face."  
  
"It doesn't matter what she says, ok?" said Lor firmly. She knew the hard time her sister always gave her. "You already talked to professor Dumbledore, and he told you that you'll be leaving tomorrow. And you'll see your dad, and your grandma." She stood up. "C'mon, I'll help you with the packing, ok?"  
  
Lily dried her tears and stood up. "I forgot my books downstairs, I'll bring them"  
  
"Sure you don't want me to go?"  
  
"No, I'll go." Lily answered. In fact she wanted to find James, so she could thank him for being so nice to her in the owlery. But when she descended the stairs, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. So she walked towards the couch in front of the fire, and picked up the books she had been reading last night. She turned around to go back to her room, when she heard a familiar voice from within a large group of fifth, sixth and seventh year boys. They all had grins. "Really what?" said the voice.  
  
"Well," answered a seventh year "I just heard a boy saying something about you being alone with a girl up in the Owlery this morning?  
  
Lily froze. She stopped breathing, so she could hear the boys' response.  
  
"Well, yeah, what can I say?" said James forcing a smile, "she loves me."  
  
"So, tell us, mate" said another voice, "who is this girl"  
  
"Lily Evans, of course," said Sirius, with a big smile as though it was obvious, patting James' back. "she finally came around, huh, Prongs?"  
  
James looked at Sirius' proud expression. "Yeah, she finally did" then he looked over Sirius' shoulder and his heart sank.  
  
She couldn't believe it, how could he? 'After what he said? That I could be his friend?' she though. She felt even more pain in her heart. It was hard enough with her mother's death, now having to bear this. More tears were coming down her cheeks, while staring at James' stunned expression, while his friends where clapping at him, with grins.  
  
She turned around and climbed up the stairs, with James staring at her, unable to move or to answer Sirius' questions.  
  
She was drowning herself in her own tears, by the time she entered her room, and Lor didn't know what to do to calm her, or to get a response from her. While inside Lily a mixture of feelings had exploded, she felt betrayed, but she didn't know why. She felt like she was giving more importance to this than it actually deserved. And she swore mentally, that she would have trouble to trust James Potter ever again, even if her heart really wanted to. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Done! :) liked it?? We hope you did! Watch for the next chapters, there's more coming about Sirius' heart issues! And we'll find what is changing inside cute, shy Remus! R/R. M'nM 


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